Implement for detaching boards from structures.



PATENTED APR. 19, 1904.

P. GUENTHER. IMPLEMENT FOR DBTAGHING BOARDS PROM STRUCTURES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19. 1903.

E II ,IWIIITIII F mvz/vrok ,i'racl zzerzier Patented April 19, 1904,

UNITED STATES P TENT @FFICE.

FRED. GUENTHER, OF SPRINGVALLEY, ILLINOIS.

IMPLEMENT FOR DETACHING BOARDS FROM STRUCTURES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,915, dated April 19, 1904.

Application filed August 19, 1903.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED GUENTHER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Springvalley, in the county of Bureau and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Im proved Implement for Detaching Boards from Structures, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple practical device having novel features of construction that ad apt it for convenient and easy use to remove boards that have been nailed to studding, joists, or the like, the work being greatly facilitated and accomplished with little exertion in a superior manner without injury to the material or bending the nails.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and defined in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the implement applied. Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of the same in position for service. Fig. 3 is a side view seen in direction of arrow as in Fig. 2. Fig. 4c is a front view of the device, showinga slightly-changed construction. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a washer-block employed, and Fig. 6 is an enlarged transverse sectional view substantially on the line 6 6 in Fig. 4.

The invention, in brief, consists of a forked yoke-frame, preferably comprising two secured half-sections laterally offset at a suitable point to form the fork members, a camlever pivoted between the fork members, an

adjustable rest-block carried by one member" of the yoke-frame, a spacing-strip that may be inserted between the half-sections of the yoke-frame to widen the fork thereon, and a notched washer-block that is employed when the members of the yoke-frame are spaced apart by the filling-strip. The two equal sections of the yoke-frame each consist of a metal plate that may with advantage be cast into form having an offset formed at a, somewhat near the end that is uppermost in service,

serial No. 170,006. (No model.)

thus affording a fork-limb l0 and an abutmentleg 10 integral therewith. The two similar abutment-legs 10 are held clamped together by the bolts Z) and nuts 6, said legs being ar ranged either in actual contact with each other or imposed upon the intervening spacing-strip 10 as will be further explained hereinafter.

The yoke members 10 are arched at their upper ends, as at 0, so as to afford spaced depending arms 10", one on each upright yokepiece and disposed in the same plane therewith, said arms, that are either formed integral with the fork members 10 or are secured thereon, preferably having such a length as will project them below the offsets a, and, as

shown in Fig. 3, the opposed edges of each fork member 10 and its depending arm 10 are parallel with each other and so spaced apart that boards or planks may be freely introduced between these edges.

Upon a pivot-bolt 11, that occupies opposite perforations in the fork members 10 in or near their arches c, the cam-lever 12 is held to rock, and, as shown, the lever 12 is formed with a curved cam-head 12, that is transversely perforated near the junction of the same with the main portion of the lever to receive the pivot-bolt 11. The lever-head 12 is convexed on its side that is faced away from the fork members 10, and upon the body of the lever a looped handle-piece 12 may be formed or secured to enable the free manipulation of said lever in use. It will also be seen that upon the'arches c upwardly-extended ears 0 may be formed integrally, and these ears have opposite perforations in them to receive the pivot-bolt 11, so that the cam-head 12 may be positioned higher from the offsets a when this is desired, the use '-'of which will presently be explained.

On one of the depending arms 1O the restblock 13 is movabl y held, consisting of a metal piece having oblong form, a longitudinal slot (Z therein, and a lug a, projected at one edge, that in service extends toward the fork members 10. Preferably the outer-sur- 13 is mounted is provided with a slightlyface of the depending arm whereon the block projecting fine-toothed rack g, that is chan neled longitudinally, as at g, having spacedj slots in its body opening into the channel, said slots 9 afliording openings for reception of the clamping-bolt 17L, having a nut thereon that permits the exchange of said bolt from one slot to another, so that the block 13 may be clamped at any desired point along the rack, it being understood that the contacting top of a boarded surface when the boards or planks aresecured horizontally with nails upon vertical studs, as is usual in boarded structures. Assuming that A represents one of a series of spaced upright studs in a building upon which the planks or sheathing-boards B are secured by large nails in the ordinary way, the forkedframe of the improved implement is hung upon the uppermost board of the series of boards that are to be removed, the arms 10 hanging down upon the side of the board that is aflix'ed upon the studding A, and, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4:, said depending arms and the fork members 10 are disposed at each side of an adjacent stud A, so that the cam lever 12 will be positioned directly in front of said stud,

with the cam-headv 12 in contact therewith.

When in position, the rest-block 13, with its lug e, engages the upper edge of the top plank or board B and, together with the loose lateral embrace of the arms 10 withregard to the stud A, serves to support the implement in position for service. As the lever 12 is positioned directly in front of and is nearly in contact with the engaged stud A, the operator first grasps the looped handle-piece 152 and pulls outwardly, thus taking up slackness between the frame of the implement and the board it is hung upon and inclining the lever outward from the-stud, as indicated in Fig. 3. The upper end of the lever should now be grasped and forcibly pulled upon, which will rock the cam-head 12 into contact with the stud A, and thus afford great power for the withdrawal of the nails i that have been driven through the board or plank into the stud, the working parts of the implement then assuming the positions shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3. In order to avoid splitting the board operated upon, the depending arms 10 should extend down upon theboard to a point near its lower edge, and to effect this the rest-block 13 may be elevated by an adjustment of the same on the rack r as before explained. When the board is of more than usual breadth, the pivot-bolt 11 may be changed in position and caused to engage the upper set of perforations or those in the ears 0 in the arches a, which will correspondingly increase the distance between the cam-head 12 and the rest-block 13, that may be placed at the top of the rack g, and thus permit the lower portions of the depending arms 10 to project to a point near the lower edge of a wide board.

It will be observed that the lower ends of the abutment-limbs 10 have contact with the outer surface of the boards that are in place on the studding and afford fulcrums whereon the entire frame of the 'mplement rocks when the lever 12 is depressed, and on account of the relative position of said fulcrums the depending arms 10 are forced outward with but slight inclination, which presses the board outward in the same manner and avoids injury thereto, pulling the nails from the stud without bending them.

It will be evident that upon removal of one board of a series from the studding Athe operation that has been described may be repeated until all the boards have been removed from the studding, after which the nails in the boards, being left in straight condition, may be readily removed by a suitable tool for reuse.

In some cases the studding of a building is of more than ordinary width, and to adapt the improved implement for use in such a case it is slightly changed in proportion to suit the width of the studding, such as A. (Shown in Fig. 4:.) To this end the abutment-legs 10 are spaced apart by the strip 10", as before mentioned, and are held clamped thereon by the bolts 5 and nuts I), the strip of wood or other material being parallel on the sides thatcontact with the legs 10 and of suitable thickness to correspond with that of the increase in thickness or width of the studding A. The fork members 10 are spaced apart an equal distance with the legs 10, and in order to hold the cam-head 12 central between them a washer-block is employed. As shown clearly in Fig. 5, the washer-block consists of two similar sleeves 14: of proper thickness bored in alinement and held spaced apart by the yokebar 14:, that is ofiset sufficiently to leave the inner faces of the sleeves unobstructed, so that they may beplaced at the respective sides of the cam-head 12, loosely embracing the same and receiving the bolt 11, whereon the cam-lever is pivoted to the fork memberslO, and this arrangement of details, which disposes the sleeves at each side of the cam-head, obviously adapts the depending arms 10 to loosely embrace the sides of the studding A of increased thickness and permits the free use of the implement for the removal of boards or planks nailed thereon.

To facilitate the handling of the improved implement while in use, alooped handle 10 is formed or affixed on the outer edge of one or both of the abutment-legs 10, which from its position near theoffset bends (0 enables the user of the implement to place it in position or remove it, as may be desired.

Obviously the implement may be used for removal of wainscoting or other lining of boards that are nailed upon horizontal timbers, and it is equally available for the detachment of board flooring from joists or like horizontal beams whereon the flooring may be nailed, and in all cases wherein it is employed the work is accomplished without excessive labor and in a manner that prevents any injury to the boards that are removed.

Having described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. An implement of the character described, comprising a pair of spaced arms, aleg joined to and spaced from the arms, and a cam-lever pivoted upon the upper portion of the leg.

2. An implement of the character described, comprising a pair of depending spaced arms, a leg furcated in its upper portion, joined to the depending arms and spaced therefrom, and a cam-lever pivoted between the furcated portion of the leg.

3. An implement of the character described, comprising an elongated leg having two members that are offset near their upper ends, two depending arms joined to and spaced from the furcated members of the leg, at their upper ends, and a lever having a cam-head and pivoted at said head between the furcations of the leg.

4. An implement of the character described,

comprising a pair of spaced arms, an adjustable rest-block on one of the arms, a leg joined to and spaced from the upper portions of the arms, and a lever having a cam-head and pivoted at said head upon the upper part of the leg.

5. An implement of the character described, comprising a pair of spaced arms, two leg members connected with and spaced from said arms by arched members, means for securing the leg members together, and a lever having acam-head, and pivoted between the leg members near the arches.

6. An implement of the character described, comprising a pair of spaced depending arms,

two leg members connected with and spaced from said arms by arched members, bolts and nuts adapted to hold the leg members secured together, the upper portions of the leg members being offset to space them apart, a lever having a cam-head and pivoted at said head between the leg members above their offsets, and an adjustable rest-block on one of the arms.

7. An implement of the character described, comprising a pair of spaced depending arms, two elongated leg members offset near their upper ends, a spacing-strip between the leg members, bolts and nuts adapted to clamp the leg members upon the spacing-strip, arches connecting upper portions of the offset members of said leg with the depending arms, a lever having a cam-head and pivoted between the arches, and an adjustable rest-block mounted upon the outer side of one of the arms.

8. An implement of the character described, comprising a pair of spaced arms, two leg members connected with and spaced from said arms by arched members, a spacing-strip be; tween the leg members, means for clamping the leg members upon the spacing-strip, a lever having a cam-head, a spacing-washer introduced between oifset upper portions of the leg members, a lever having a cam head loosly engaged by the spacing-washer, the latter being formed with sleeves that embrace said cam -head, and a pivot bolt passing through the offset members, the sleeves, and the cam-head of the lever.

In testimony whereof I havesigned my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRED GUENTHER.

Witnesses:

JOHN L. WEINERT, R. F. STRUEVER. 

